Do joyful people find meditation easier to practise than sad,
morose people? Is the Self-realisation goal easier to attain for
happy people?
— Raj, 39, Chennai ■ When we are happy and full of joy-ous
excitement, our prana, life energy, moves upwards. This upward
move-ment helps us in our spiritual practice. We get better results
in our sadhana. If the happiness quotient of a sadhaka continues to
increase, then dhyana is deeper and quicker. It is important for a
spiritual practitioner to be motivat-ed. The yoga shastras say that
a practi-tioner’s enthusiasm is a significant as-pect of his
sadhana; it’s his first step towards spiritual progress. If you are
not excited about your spiritual prac-tice, then it is difficult to
make pro-gress on the path. If you are sad and unhappy, then your
prana will soon start waning. Consequently, you will not be able to
concentrate. This will allow all sorts of disorders to take root in
your mind. That’s why unhappy people are not able to be successful
in their spiritual endeavours.
Happiness is the prerequisite for any kind of sadhana, which is
why gurus lay emphasis on satsang. Through satsang, an individual’s
men-tal conflicts are resolved and he be-comes peaceful. Once he is
in a calm-er frame of mind, he can begin his sadhana. Just like
stale, musty fruits and flowers are not used as offerings in
religious rituals like puja, similarly, a drooping, unhealthy body
cannot help you move forward in your sadhana. That’s why it is
important to start spiritual practices when you are younger and
more energetic and it is even better if children are introduced to
spiritual practices. So, start today for stellar results. ■
Send your questions to [email protected] with subject
line: Ask Surakshit and state your age
YOG GURU SURAKSHIT GOSWAMI
The wilderness was daunting. Ag-nidyotana clutched his staff.
His other hand instinctively held what constitut-ed his mission, a
letter from Princess Rukmini to the Yadava lord, Krishna Vasudeva.
Agnidyotana had been walking for four days now. When his feet could
carry him no further, he sank to the ground. Of all the people at
Kundinapura, Princess Rukmini had to choose him, an ageing brahmin,
for this critical task. He had stuck to a less taken path to avoid
being recognised by spies. But the decision had cost him his speed
and safety, too. The wilder-ness around him did not allow him a
good night’s sleep. And he was hun-gry. Could he reach Dwaraka
before the stipulated date? O, why didn’t he choose the path close
to the shore, friendlier to travellers?
“Shambho Mahadeva! Help me! Help Rukmini assert her consent,
Lord!” He tried to trudge ahead. Ag-nidyotana was stuck in a
hostile wild patch where even a stray boar could make a meal of
him. What happened to the merit of his life — of rituals and
sadhana? Could the gods not rescue him, especially when someone’s
future hung in the balance?
Dizzy, Agnidyotana caught hold of the nearest creeper for
support. He felt the creeper was too soft — it was a part of a net!
A hunter’s net. Just then, he felt the net descend upon him. It
meant that he was in an inhabited part of this land. Perhaps the
hunter could help him?
Soon, he heard footsteps and a flame torch lit up the
surroundings and Agnidyotana saw the hunter. “Well, well! If the
gods don’t mean to make a cannibal out of me! Why would a human be
stuck in my net?”
“I need your help, brother!” Ag-nidyotana did not waste a moment
as the hunter helped him out of the net.
“Help me reach Saurashtra. At the earliest!”
“Gather your breath, Brahmana!” The hunter chuckled. “And who in
his right mind would venture into this wilderness? If not the wild
animals, hunger would see the last of you! Forget reaching
Saurashtra or wherever.”
Agnidyotana heard an anklet jin-gle. A woman? In these
surroundings! He saw the bearded hunter grin. She emerged out of
what seemed like a narrow path through thickets. It had to be the
hunter’s wife, frowning at what her husband had just said.
“Running my reputation along with yours to the ground, aren’t
you? What are you, a hunter, there for, if not to kill wild
animals?” She chided the hunter and then turned to Ag-nidyotana.
“And the forest has enough to not let anyone go hungry.” She
beamed and led the way. “This man here does not see anything
beyond graves and pyres. And I belong to a hospitable hill tribe
who never lets a
guest go hungry!” There was some-thing rhythmic
about her lilt and the tinkle of her anklets that Agnidyotana
felt was surreal.
Before long, they reached an in-conspicuous cave that was the
hunter’s home and the woman lit a fire to cook a meal. “What brings
you to these for-ests, Brahmana?”
Agnidyotana could not keep a se-cret from the kind couple who
were feeding him in the middle of no-where. Still, he took care to
leave out specifics. “A noble maiden has chosen her future Lord.
Alas, her elder broth-
er thinks he has the power to seal her future, despite her
resistance. I bear her message to her chosen man.”
Agnidyotana saw the couple ex-change an amused glance. “When
this woman chose me, the whole world tried dissuading her.
Including me!”
“Ignore him. He only meant to test!” The woman interjected with
a mock frown turning into a smile when her eyes met her husband’s.
“But tell me good sire, your mission seems to concern the affairs
of
powerful people. Is it safe for you to get in?”
“It is the matter of Dharma, kind lady.” Agnidyotana smiled at
the aro-ma of freshly cooked gruel. “All my life, I have been a man
of scripture and they proscribe violation of a woman’s consent. The
gods I worship get angry at the kingdom that insults women. I am a
purohita and it is my duty to take corrective course of action to
save my city from the wrath of gods. May they help me in my
mission!”
The simple gruel was tastier than anything that Agnidyotana had
ever eaten before. Energising, too. Like he had eaten enough food
for a whole week. “Arise and walk ahead, Brah-mana.” The hunter
spoke, in a tone surprisingly solemn. “You cannot af-ford to
tarry.”
Agnidyotana rose, as if in a trance and picked up his staff.
Grunts of wild boars ceased to be a concern, like the thorny path
ahead of him. His mind replayed the picture of an anxious Rukmini
depending upon his success and he strode ahead all night. In the
wee hours, he heard a sound that made his eyes moist with
gratitude. The sound of sea waves. He had reached Saurashtra.
Dwaraka is nigh!
Seated on the snowy top of Mount Kailasa, the god of gods raised
a brow, though a knowing smile played on his lips as he turned to
the mother of the universe. “The distance he covered within a
night, Parvati! What did you feed him?” ■
Why should I be unableTo regard the bodies of others as ‘I’?
It is not difficult to seeThat my body is also that of
others.
In the same way as the hands and so forth
Are regarded as limbs of the body Likewise why are embodied
creatures
Not regarded as limbs of life?Shantideva
✥
As a mother with her own life guards the life of her own
child,
let all-embracing thoughts for all that lives be thine.
Khuddaka Patha✥
All life, I regard as sacred. And, it seems to me, in ethics, we
are
concerned not alone with mankind, but also with animals.Sadhu T
L Vaswani
✥
To the extent we develop broader and broader vision and
appreciation of who our family is, to that extent
we can actually experience the reality of who we are.Radhanath
Swami
✥
As we learn to truly recognise how much the value of our life
rests in our connectedness to
other living beings, our relationship to our
responsibilities
can change drastically. Ogyen Trinley Dorje
✥
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched
to everything else in the universe.
John Muir✥
“No life is a waste,” the Blue Man said. “The only time we
waste is the time we spend thinking we’re alone.”
Mitch Albom
Reformat Your Memory
From my younger days, I have had the ability to sense when
somebody is thinking about me. This ability allows me to react even
before the person has spo-ken or made his intentions known — most
of the time with disastrous results.
Most people, now and then, do exhibit this ability of reading
the mind and I feel everybody has this capability though they may
not be aware of it.
Brain PowerThe brain is not only an instrument that can create
thought but it can also send this signal and receive external
thoughts. We do have painful memo-ries associated with people,
places and objects. Quite often, negative thoughts from them bother
us.
How is the external thought re-ceived and is it possible to stop
it from affecting us? Taking the analogy of modern computers or
phone apps may provide a possible answer.
An app in the phone or laptop gets its update, notification and
data only when the app is on the instru-ment. If the app is removed
from the device, then, no data can be received, though that
information is in the ‘en-vironment’. Similarly, if the painful
memory of a per-son or event is removed from the brain, then, no
thought about it can be processed by it.
How do you selectively remove painful memories? Recently,
scientists have discovered that if we think about a certain person,
object or event, then that memory becomes pliable, that is, it can
be modified with a new memory. Neural pathways, when active, are
amenable to modifi-
cations. If, at this time, happy memo-ries are remembered
actively, then they might weaken and replace neg-ative
thoughts.
In a hypnosis session, it is commonly seen that the hypnotist
suggests new ideas and thoughts to the patient and these get
im-planted in the brain.
This is useful, especial-ly when a patient is talking about a
painful past epi-sode. This way, unpleasant
memories can be modified with new, suggested memories. But this
is a dan-gerous process since the other person can play with the
patient’s memory, and there have been cases of false
memory im-p l a n t e d i n quite a number of hypnotised
patients with harmful results. Implanting of new memory
by oneself is difficult. So, a better way to do so is to
practise yoga and meditation. When one is immersed in deep
thought on a subject for a long time, then the majority of neural
pathways in the brain are used mostly to focus on that thought.
This allows other memories to weaken and provides possible
op-portunity for removal of unpleasant memories.
Sanyam, deep thought, according to Patanjali Yoga, can be
cultivated with long practice and is the surest way to make the
brain supple. Then, unpleasant memories can be reduced and rendered
irrelevant.
In such circumstances, when ex-ternal thought impinges on the
brain, then it will not be registered, since the memory of that
thought (app) is missing or has become corrupted.
Often, when a virus affects the computer, the best way to remove
it is by formatting the hard disk. Weak-ening of memories by sanyam
pro-vide mechanisms in the brain to do just that, and this is far
better than tinkering with selective removal of memory.
The loosening of memory also helps one in becoming detached. It
is memory that gives rise to attachment either to people or
property; when memory becomes weak, detachment results. That is the
basic tenet of Patanjali Yoga Darshan. ■
The author, a scientist, is director, Nimbkar Agricultural
Research Institute,
Phaltan, Maharashtra
ANIL K RAJVANSHI tells us how to stop unpleasant thoughts and
memories from affecting us adversely
Precious GiftWhen I was in my 30s and newly married, I followed
my husband to
his hometown in Japan, where a son bringing home his American
wife was unheard of. But my elderly
mother-in-law set me at ease at the very first meal, announcing
that I
could do anything I wished because there were no expectations. I
never forgot this gift. A few years later, we moved to Los Angeles.
I missed my family. An elderly neighbour, one day, made a picnic
and invited me and my child to join him. He said, “Don’t worry, I
decided I like you. You can make any mistake...it’s
okay.” I never forgot this gift. Later, when we moved to NYC, I
had a baby and experienced post-partum depression. One day, I took
my baby out in the stroller; I knew I had a terribly unhappy
expression on my face. An elderly gentleman beamed a bright warm
smile, as he
passed by me. I never forgot this gift. This week, as I walked
our dog
wearing my mask, hoping I did not appear silly, an elderly
fellow rode a
bike down the road and nodded to me, saying, “You look
lovely,
dear!” I will never forget the gift.— Lettie, sunnyskyz.com
Her Loyal Messenger SaturDaY, MaY 2, 2020 Spiritual proMotional
Feature
Positive Microvita And Covid-19
We are currently bat-tling a pandemic caused by the spread of
what is being called an invisible virus, the novel coronavirus
Covid-19. The founder of Ananda Marga, Shri Shri Anandamur-ti, also
known as Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, had written a book titled
Mi-crovitum In A Nutshell in 1986. He wrote that there are entities
that come within the realm of both physicality and psychic
expressions, smaller or subtler than atoms, electrons or pro-tons
that in the psychic realm, may be subtler than ectoplasm. He called
such entities microvitum and microvita, in plural. The position of
the microvita is just between ectoplasm and elec-tron, but it is
neither of the two. Bil-lions of microvita form a single car-bon
atom. The microvita move throughout the universe from one celestial
body to another, regardless of atmospheric conditions like
temper-ature and pressure. These entities, with their mysterious
movement, create minds and bodies, and they also de-stroy minds and
physical bodies in any other part of this universe.
There are three types of microvita: one which comes under the
scope of a microscope, known as virus, and an-other type which
cannot be seen with a microscope but can be perceived and felt
through their actional vibra-tion. The third category of microvita
come only within the scope of a spe-cial type of perception and may
be realised by persons having spiritually oriented minds.
Spirituality tries to link microcosm, the unit mind, with the
invisible ‘Macrocosm,’ the Su-preme Consciousness. Microvita is
closer to the realm of ideas than mat-ter. According to Shri Shri
Ananda-murti, ‘virus’ is a vague term. The
better term will be ‘microvitum’ and not virus. So we can say,
in the realm of microvita, the coronavirus Cov-id-19, is a crude,
negative microvita.
According to their nature, micro-vita are of three types —
negative, ordinary/neutral and positive. Nega-tive microvita
function on their own, through nature, while positive micro-vita
function through specially created waves. Negative microvita move
with the help of inferences — sound, touch, form, taste and smell.
When a negative microvita penetrates one’s body, the person feels
very uneasy. But when millions of negative microvita enter, it does
not take more than a few seconds for even an elephant to die.
Covid-19 is a type of negative micro-vita. Negative microvita
primarily function in the Muladhara and Swa-dhisthana chakras and
gradually rise upwards.
The chakra is a collection of glands and sub-glands that
controls the 50 propensities of the human mind. A mind engaged in
degenerat-ing thought may invite negative mi-crovita. Good company,
books, litera-ture, song and kirtanas, and devotion-al chanting
elevate the mind. This attracts positive microvita. The body is
more receptive to positive microvi-ta if one is a vegetarian. The
number of positive microvita can be increased by spiritual
practice.
To ward off the ill-effects of Cov-id-19, we should meditate on
the Guru Chakra, the pineal gland. Prac-tise asanas like
Sarvangasana, Matsya Mudra, Bhujangasana and Vayavi Pra-nayama to
strengthen the immune system. Follow physical hygiene, washing of
hands, feet and other ex-posed body parts with soap or use an
alcohol-based sanitiser. ■ The writer is a disciple of
Anandamurtiji
ACHARYA DIVYACHETANANANDA AVADHUTA says good thought and action
can strengthen immunity
ASK SURAKSHIT
May 3: Mahavira Swami Kevalagyan Diwas
May 4: Agni Nakshatram beginsMay 6: Narasimha Jayanti
May 7: Buddha Purnima, Chitra Pournami, Vaishakha Purnima
May 8: Narada Jayanti
THIS WEEK
myTH fIc
aru
nD
Yuti
DaS
Here, in one more of her short, fictionalised mythological
stories, SAISWAROOPA IYER writes of agnidyotana’s close encounter
with divinity in his quest to fulfil a promise he made to
rukmini
Why Wait?S A c R E DS P A c E
Interconnected
get
tY iM
ageS
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dellTypewritten TextTimes of India; Speaking Tree, 2 May
2020
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